ISTANBUL (Medyascope) – Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has now secured control of the country’s third-largest city of İzmir following the transfer of mayor Cemil Tugay last week.
By Leo Kendrick • Medyascope
Tugay, originally elected as a member of the then-main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) with 48.9% of the vote in 2024, officially joined the AKP at a party meeting last Wednesday (October 7).
Tugay had quit the CHP over the summer after a controversial court ruling installed the party’s former leadership, a move seen by critics as an attempt to neutralize the country’s biggest opposition party.
The YENİ Party, a new political party formed by deposed CHP chairman Özgür Özel, had failed to recruit Tugay to its ranks following the schism.
Instead, Tugay remained independent for months as suspicions grew that he was planning to join President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP. Tugay had repeatedly denied rumors of his transfer, even saying in an interview in 2025 that his chances of joining the AKP were ‘less than one in a million’, adding his wife and family would disown him in such a situation.
Since it came to power in 2003, the AKP had routinely failed to win control of İzmir, a famously secular city long known as a stronghold of the CHP.
City council remains in opposition control despite transfer
Despite Tugay’s transfer to the AKP, control over İzmir’s city council remains in opposition hands, leading to questions over how the city will be run going forward.
In the 184-seat city council, 91 seats are controlled by the now-main opposition YENİ Party, 39 by the AKP, 35 by the CHP, and eight by smaller parties.
Tugay expresses admiration for Erdoğan in transfer ceremony
Following last Wednesday’s transfer ceremony, Tugay expressed admiration for President Erdoğan, describing him as ‘impressive’ and ‘a good-hearted person’:
“You see—above all—that he is a human being, a kind-hearted person; someone who has devoted years of effort and hard work to serving his country. It inevitably makes an impression on you.”
Transfers to Erdoğan’s AKP by elected opposition officials have soared in recent months. The ruling party has welcomed such transfers, while critics in the opposition have alleged such transfers have been the result of coercion and legal pressure. Many politicians who have remained in opposition parties have been detained and jailed of late, amidst an ongoing crackdown seen by some as an attempt to end multi-party politics in Turkey.
Mayor’s transfer hands Turkey’s ruling AKP first-ever control of İzmir | Written/translated by Leo Kendrick | Edited by Medyascope English Newsroom
